The Reel: Meet Pitcher Halen Knoll
Halen Knoll is a thinking man’s pitcher.
The 25-year-old native of Edmonton doesn’t light up the radar gun with an overpowering fastball, but is nevertheless an effective hurler.
“It kind of developed after high school,” Knoll said. “I threw a little harder in high school, and then first couple years of college the velo kind of came up, but it still wasn’t enough to beat guys. So over the last few years I became really smart with hitters and swings and figuring out what pitches to throw guys where and stuff.
“So I think that’s where I succeed now. “
Welland Jackfish manager Brian Essery loves Knoll’s makeup on the mound.
“He’s a guy that throws five different pitches and throws them all for strikes,” Essery said. “He’s not a guy that’s going to overpower you, but he’s a guy that’s going to keep you off balance, he’s going to change speeds, he’s going to hit spots. Bottom line is to throw strikes. As a coach, that’s what we love.”
Essery said flamethrowers will always turn the head of the scouts, but that doesn’t mean a pitcher such a Knoll can’t be effective.
“There’s still a lot of room for those players in the game,” he said. “Like, you even see it in the big leagues, too. You see bullpens where everybody throws 95, 98. But you do see some starting pitchers that are control guys that get outs and they’re still very valuable. And it’s becoming a lost art because everybody wants to see (velocity).”
Knoll was named the West Coast League Pitcher of the Year in 2023 while pitching for the Edmonton Riverhawks, where he compiled an impressive 2.20 earned-run average with 52 strikeouts and only 18 walks in 73.2 innings pitched.
The stocky right-hander had another solid season for the Riverhawks in 2024 and earned a tryout with Trois-Riviéres of the independent Frontier League before hooking on with the Jackfish.
“I wasn’t even expecting to be signed to a Frontier League team or anything so that was that was a surprise and then going there it was a good experience. It’s definitely a change in plans but you just go with what you have and the Jackfish are a really good home.”
Knoll, who has been primarily a starter in his career, has pitched out of the bullpen so far for the Jackfish.
“It’s less about like the reps and more about the warm up,” Knoll said of the transition to a relief role. “It’s a little bit harder of a warm-up because now you have a warm up at the start of the game and then sit for a couple hours before you come in. But it’s nothing I’m not used to — I’ve come out of the pen in the past. It is an adjustment period but it should I think I’m doing okay.”
Essery said he expects Knoll to get some spot starts next month.
“We’ve already talked about it so we’re preparing him to do that,” Essery said. “He’s a swing guy, he can go from the back end to the starting rotation. So it’s good to have that flexibility and I have confidence in him when he gets his opportunity to start that he’s going to do very well.”
Knoll, who features a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, cutter, slider, change-up, curveball, is a contract hardware and design engineer away from the diamond and also owns and manages an escape room in Edmonton with his father.
“I want to see how long I can take this. When I was in the Frontier League, a lot of guys are older so I kind of realized you’ve got to play for a while before you’re even going to get that opportunity. So I’m just going to try to get better over the next few years, maybe get a little bit more speed and then maybe I get another shot.”